


Black and Red

by spikesgirl58



Series: Halloween Challenge 2020 [9]
Category: Sapphire and Steel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:41:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27207553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spikesgirl58/pseuds/spikesgirl58
Summary: Something had caused man to turn upon his neighbor and burn the town down to the ground and Steel has a feeling that it's still there, burning hot with anger.
Series: Halloween Challenge 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1975084
Comments: 9
Kudos: 7





	Black and Red

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ragnarok89](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ragnarok89/gifts).



Steel waited for Sapphire to join him. He always seemed to be waiting for her. He would be sent in first, which, given his makeup was only fair. Going in first, he could assess and recommend additional resources, if necessary. And there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t give to keep her from the sight before him. 

He had no stomach for bloodshed. Steel could not understand the inhumanity of mankind. The more he knew about them, the less patience he had with their squabbles and violence. “There are times when I truly believe that we should leave them to the hands of the Transuranics.”

Sapphire was doing her best to avoid looking at the corpse-littered landscape. The black smoke was thick and made her head ache. “There are times when I find myself agreeing with you, Steel. I don’t understand what drives them. Why destroy an entire town? They had no riches, no resources. This is slaughter for the sake of slaughter. We don’t even know who did it.” She caught her toe then and would have tumbled face first into a pile of smoldering corpses, but Steel caught and steadied her.

“Why are we even here? It’s too long past saving anyone. The entire town is burning.” He looked in the distance and coughed. “The whole region is.”

She bent and picked up a bit of soil. It was powder in her grasp. “There hasn’t been measurable rain here for a long time.” Then Sapphire’s hearing picked up something, very faint and weak. “Perhaps not everyone.”

Hurriedly, she led the way to a burned-out building. “Is there someone here? You can come out. I won’t hurt you.”

“No, no!” The voice was more of a whisper from behind a pile of debris.

“Steel?” Sapphire gestured to a large ceiling beam that blocked her path.

He made a face and hefted a timber out of the way. The rest of the obstructing wood was quickly dispatched with. There, in an alcove created by a stone fire place, was a young woman. She clutched a bundle close to her chest and tried to melt into the brickwork as Sapphire eased forward.

“It’s all right. We won’t hurt you.”

“No, no!” the woman repeated, clawing one handed at the rock. Blood smeared the surface and Sapphire reached to catch the fingers before they could damage themselves more. 

“Shh, calm yourself. We are here to help you.”

The wide brown eyes seemed to look through her. “Help? Me?”

“Yes, but we need to understand what happened.”

“It… happened.”

Steel threw a piece of wood across the room impatiently. At the sound of the impact, the woman screamed and turned back to the stone.

_Steel!_

_What? I’m tired of these half-guessed assignments. We are Time Agents, but recently I feel like we are just cut-rate contractors, sent in to pick up the pieces._

_This piece, as you refer to it, is a woman and quite probably the only person who can help us. Why don’t you go outside and see if there are any more survivors?_

With a snort, Steel turned heel and walked away. The sun was hot against his skin, not that it bothered him. He had been forged in fire, then tempered in ice. Extremes didn’t bother him.

No, that was wrong. Extremes did bother him. Once upon a time, they were sent to homes or locations where they would unravel Time’s plot. Now it seemed they went from one catastrophe to the next, at times arriving barely able to take command of the situation. More likely than not, it was after the fact and they had to try and put the pieces back together.

Steel flipped over a vehicle, more to have something to do than needing to. He caught himself then. He didn’t usually act aggressively, not without cause. He did what was required, but no more. Since arriving to this place, he’d felt increasingly violent and that wouldn’t do. He couldn’t and wouldn’t hurt Sapphire, but the humans, their bodies were far too fragile. He could hurt them without effort and that would be bad. And all the while he thought this, a name fluttered around in his head like a caged bird. Afrit

 _Too angry!_ He thought and took a deep breath. _Not right._

_I’m feeling it, too._

Sapphire’s thoughts surprised him. Usually they left each other to themselves unless they needed to communicate. _What do you mean?_

_The aggression. The mindless need for violence. The desire to hurt…_

_Sapphire, where are you?_

_Outside that building._

_What… what about that woman?_

_Unable to help. She is dead._ Sapphire’s voice was without inflection.

_Sapphire, you didn’t…_

_Of course not!_ Sapphire snapped back. _I suspect her heart gave out from fear. Her child had long since passed. Steel, I keep getting an image over and over again. It’s as if it’s permanently burned into the area. As if the physicality of the fire wasn’t enough. It’s walking and burning._

_What is it?_

_Afrit._

The word set Steel back on his heels. “What do you know about him?” He realized he’d spoken. Sapphire was just a few feet from him, her blue dress stained with blood.

Her eyes burned bright blue even as she continued to move towards him. “Afrit is a winged fire demon born of blood. It rises like a dark vapor from the blood of its victims. It is said to instill terror and brutality into its prey, making it slaughter in its name.” Sapphire stopped an arm’s length from him, her eyes returning to normal.

“The brutality I sense, but not so much the terror.” In his peripheral vision, he sensed movement and he pulled back, narrowly missing the metal rod Sapphire swung at him. There is a strangeness in Sapphire’s eyes and voice. There was the terror. 

She was screaming, her face twisted into that of a stranger’s, as she struck at him again and again. Finally he caught the rod and easily wrenched it from her grasp. She threw herself at him, clawing and biting.

“Sapphire, what are you doing?” He evaded her blows and wrapped his arms around her tightly. _SAPPHIRE!_

All he could read was pain, anger and terror, so much terror. It was all around her, threatening her to her very core. And fire, so much fire.

“Enough!”

Suddenly they were back home, if such a place could be called that, but they weren’t alone. Others were there; They were there, slipping a screaming Sapphire from his grasp, ferrying her away.

“Steel, what happened?” Silver was pale with concern as he watched Them practically carry her into a room.

“Afrit.”

Silver frowned, working his head around the word. “You mean, afraid?”

“No, the demon’s name is Afrit. Just before she succumbed, she told me he was brought forth from the blood of his victims. A young woman died in her arms. I am assuming that it what gave him a foothold.”

“So, what do we do?”

“We?” Steel looked at him. 

“Yes, we. How do you fight terror? How do you fight fire? No one strikes down one of our agents without us doing something about it.” 

“You fight terror by information. Terror is caused by the unknown. Make it known and it’s not as frightening. And water. You fight fire with water.”

“There was no one left in that town to be terrified, not now. It was nearly burned down to the ground. Even the roots of the trees underground were smoldering. Sapphire said there hadn’t been any rain there in a very long time.”

Silver smiled. “Then let’s remedy that, shall we? For Sapphire?” Silver held out his hand and after a moment, Steel took it.

“For Sapphire.”

It felt as if she’d been standing too close to the fire, then suddenly stepped away. The air was cool and soothing on her face. Something wet touched her lips and she swallowed reflexively.

“Not too much all at once,” Steel said and she opened her eyes to see him bending over her. His face was streaked black and his clothes were torn and burnt in spots.

She was on a bed, covered with a sheet. She shivered then, as if someone had stepped upon her grave.

“Steel,” she whispered. Her throat felt raw and torn.

“Just rest.” He let her take the glass and retrieved a blanket, draping it over her legs. “The Attendants said you will be fine after some rest. The tiredness and soreness you are experiencing is because of your form, not your structure. 

“What happened? I remember trying to calm that poor woman and then…” She stopped and her eyes grew big. “I attacked you. I hated you. Why did I hate you?”

“Afrit was behind it. You were covered in that woman’s blood, it was his way in. It gave him what he needed to possess you.”

“What did you do?”

“Thanks to Silver, the region has received a first class storm, getting more rain in the last hour than it has experienced in the last five years.”

“Silver? How was Silver able to help?”

Steel looked over his shoulder as the exhausted agent was brought in and settled into a bed of his own. 

“Silver Iodide. It binds with the clouds and makes them release moisture. I always thought I was the one to put the damper on a party, but I now stand corrected. This time it was all him. ”

“But why?”

Steel leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “All for the love of a good woman.”

He might have said more, but Sapphire surrendered to sleep and Steel, lacking anything better to do, settled down beside her to wait. It was what he did.


End file.
